Surface covering



June 2o, 1939. M HAMUN 2,162,8s6

SURFACE CovERING Filed Feb. '4, 1937 INVENTOR /f/ansialz amiz'l? ATTORNEY Patented June 20, 1939 UNITED ,STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE rSURFACE covERrNG Marston iovell Hamlin, Lynbrook, N. Y., assign- .or to The Barrett Company, New York, N. Y.,

a corporation of New Jersey Application February 4, 1937, serialy No, 124,023

v8 Claims. This invention relates to wallI or other surface coverings, and more particularly to flexibleshingles or. siding provided with aligning indicia permitting the ready application thereof to walls or other surfaces in desired overlapping relation A to simulate the -usual brick mortar construction or other desired predetermined design,

One object of this invention is to-provide a shingle or siding element,'hereinafter termed a shingle, which may readily andconveniently be applied to a vertical or inclined surface ina predetermined relation to previously applied rshingles so that theassembly of shingles forms a predev termined'designV on the surface, e. g. resembles a 1" brick wall. Other objects and advantages will appear from the following detailed description. The shingle of my invention is of the typey adapted to be laid in overlapping conurses rwith the shingles of each course overlyingand leaving exposed, respectively, predetermined portions of the preceding course; it may be made of any suitable sheet material but preferably involves a felt base strip having a row of brick-simulating areas separated by slots along its lower edge, the remainder 2;, of fthe upper -surface of the shingle simulating mortar, The shingle is provided with a supporting nail-receiving slot leading inwardly from each of its transverse edges. These slots are preferably spaced from thelower edge of the shingle a dis- 3o tance corresponding to the width' of the portion of the underlying shingle to be overlapped by the contiguous overlying shingle, thus serving to indicate the vertical spacing of the shingles.

oicontiguous courses.: Nail-locating indicia are 3;, preferably provided along the upper edge of each shingle. The indicia arel disposed immediately above each brick-simulating portion, intermediate the ends thereof and permit the proper alignment of a side edge of anloverlying shingle at will above the middle of any one'of the bricksimulat- -ing portions f an underlying element', hence permitting accurate vapplication in .courses so that the brick-simulating portions of contiguous courses are staggered.' Each'shlngle is laid by 4,-, partially driving home a pair of nails at points indicated bythe indicial of a pair ofcontiguous shingles of a previously laidi course, flexing the shingle and inserting the portions thereof beneath vthe nails so that the slots' receive the 5,0 nails and the nails support the shinglein the desired relation to the previously laidshingle's, adjusting the shingle as desired, and thereafter securing the shingle by driving the supporting nails home. Preferably the indicia are positioned so the supportingnaiis are located a'distance apart" (c1. 10s-s) 'In the accompanying drawing forming a part Aof this specification and showing for purposes of exemplification a preferred form of the invenlo tion,

Fig. 1 is anelevation of a shingle;

Fig. -2 Yis-.a fragmentary elevation of a number of shingles of the type shownvin Fig. 1 arranged in overlapping relatiom) Fig. 3ds a sectional view along a line coincident 15 with the upper edges of Ashingles A and B of Fig. 2 looking in thedirectlon of the arrows 3, 3;

Fig. 4 is an elevationof a slightlyv modified form of shingle; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view illustrating a lay- 20 out for cutting the shingles from a web of 'roofing material.

In thedrawing, reference numeral I0 designates generally a bitumene. g. asphalt-saturated and coated felt base shingle, one longitudinal 25 edge of the .body portion Il of which isformed with rectangular tabs l2 separated by narrow slots i3. The tabs l2 are covered with granular materlal I 4 of one color orblend of colors, prefer` vably brick-colored granules, the granular ma- 3Q so that the open ends of 'the slots are of out' 40 wardly flared shape as illustrated-in the drawing. The slots are located a distance from the upper edge of the shingle corresponding to the width of the shingle `portion to be exposed, i. e. in the case of the siding shingle shown in the illus- 4,5v

trated embodiment of the invention, the distance from the slotsI 24, 25 to the upper edge ofthe shingle is'approximately equal to the depth of the tabs plus the width of a mortar line between courses of brick. It will be noted that by so '50 spacing the slots the distance from the loweredge of the shingle to the slots is equal to the depth of the underlying shingle overlapped by an overlying shinglee.

Theupper edge of the body 'portion of the.b 65

10 otherwise this shingle is identical in 30 are of the shape shown in 35 an element the tabs of 55 49 positioned therein 65 erly positioned the nails 48 and be driven into the wall or roof 70 notches -and D and another shingle supported-on these nails and secured in abutting relation to 'shingle shingle is provided with nail-locating indicia, which, as shown in Fig. l, are constituted of pairs of notches designated by reference numerals 30, 30', 3|, 3i', 32, 32', 33, 33', one'pair of notches being located opposite each tab intermediate the ends thereof, as shown in thedrawing.

In Fig. 4 there is shown a shingle which is provided with pairs of projections 35 complemental in shape to notches 30 to 33 inclusive; shape-to the shingle of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 discloses a cutting layout by which singles in accordance with my invention may be readily made from a sheet of roofing material. 15 For example, the roong sheet may be surfaced with longitudinal bands of mortar-colored granular material 31, 38, 39 and longitudinal bands of brick-colored granules 40, Iii, and passed between cutting rolls provided with knives for v. 20 producing pairs of the said notches along theA side edges of the sheet, straight longitudinal cuts 42, 43 along the median lines of the brick colored bands, broken longitudinal cut 64 along v `'band 38, which cut forms the -upper edges of the 25 shingles of Fig. 4, and transverse cuts 45 forming the transverse edges and slots 23, 25 of the Vshingle elements. It will be observed that the two exterior rows of shingle elements are of the shapeshown in Fig. 1 and the two interior rows Fig. 4. If desired, the brickcolored bands 43, 4i may be formed by ap- -plylng to an asphalt-coated and grit-surfaced asphalt-saturated felt base, an overlay coating in which coating grit is embedded, thus producing which are thicker than the body portion, i. e. a thick-butt shingle. The shingles are laid as follows: Nails 48, 49,' having heads of greater diameter than the width of slots`24, 25,. are driven partiallyhome into the 40l wall or -other surface through the nailing indicia, e. g. notches 32', -32 of previously laid shingles A and B respectively. Shingle C, while disposed and maintained in a horizontal direction, is then flexed slightly (see Fig. 3) and 45 slipped under the heads of the nails so that the slots 24, 25 receive the nails and the nailssupport the shingle in horizontal position with its lower edge located above brick colored portions of shingles A andY B a 50 distance corresponding to the width of amortar line between courses of brick. Each pair of corresponding notches in the upper edge of a pair of shingles as laid (cf. notches 32', 32 of shingles A and B) is positioned so that the nails 48 and are spaced apart a dis- /tance somewhat greater than the distance between the inner ends of slots 24 and 25 of the shingle but somewhat less than the normal length of the shinglethus enabling the shingle to beV 60 adjusted in the direction of its length in order to place it in abutment with an adjacent shingle of the-same course to compensate for slight -irreg- 'ularities'of manufacture and irregularities of'the wall or other surface. After the shingle is prop- 49 are 'driven home and the shingle may be secured by additional nailsif desired. Thereafter, another pair of nails, as indicated for example at 5I, 52,-1'nay deck through 32' and v32 respectively of shingles B It will be noted a pair of nail indicating notches 75 is associated with each tab of each element; this the upper edges of the permits the application of Vsupporting nails at will above any of the tabsv of a pair of elements secured to the wall so that the overlying elements can be applied with the side edges thereof overlying the median line of any of the tabs of the underlyingelements resulting in a staggering of the joints between the elements of contiguous courses as shown in Fig. 2.

Accordingly, by the present invention I have provided strip shingles having slots extending inwardlly from their transverse edges, which slots support the shingles on nails driven in predetermined points of shingles of an underlying course. My shingles may be readily, rapidly and accurately laid in positive, vertical alignment with the joints between the shingles in contiguous courses staggered and may be adjusted horizontally the necessary extent to secure abutment of adjacent shingles in each 'course to compensate for irregularities of the surface being covered and for the varying lengths of shingles due to irregularities arising. during manufacture.

Since different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope of this invention, it is intended that the matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A shingle adapted to be laid with other like shingles in overlapping courses with a predetermined portion of its area exposed to the weather and the remainder o-its area constituting the body portion and adapted to be covered by the overlapping course of shingles, said shingle having slots leading inwardly from opposite sides of said body portion and -indicia above the slots for receiving supporting means for an overlying shingle, said supportingmeans adapted to be engaged by the slot in a side edge of the overlying shingle.

2. A shingle adapted to be laid with other like shingles in overlapping courses with. a predetermined portion of its area exposed to the weather overlying shingle in desired vertical spaced rela-' --tionship with respect to the underlying shingle. 3. A shingle adapted to be laid with other like shingles in overlapping courses, said shingle comprising a mortar colored body portion, and having along the longitudinal edge of the b ody portion a plurality of spaced brick-appearing portions, said shingles having slots leading inwardly from the `opposite side edges of said body portion and nailing indicia above the slots arranged in pairs, each pair disposed intermediate the ends of the brickappearing portions, said nailing indicia being so disposed that a nail may be driven in said indicia to receive the slot of an overlying shingle and support the same. in desired vertical spaced relationship with respect to an underlying shingle, with. the side edge of the overlying shingle disposed in abutting relation with the side edge of l edge of said shingle a distance corresponding to t the joints of the staggered.

4. A shingle adapted to be laid with other like shingles in overlapping courses with a predetermined portion of its area exposed to the weather andthe remainder of its area covered by overlapping shingles, said shingle comprising a body portion provided with slots leading inwardly from opposite sides thereof and nailing indicia located on the body portion of said shingle above said slots, said slots being adapted to be passed over nails driven through indicia of a preceding course of shingles and to support said shingle in a predetermined relation to said preceding course. 5. -A iiexible shingle of general rectangular form bounded by upper and lower and transverse edges, said shingle having along its lower edge a row of brick-simulating tabs separated by relatively narrow slots, the remainder of said shingle being of mortar-simulating appearance, said shingle having a pair of aligned nail receiving slots leading into its transverse edges in the mortar-simulating portion thereof, said slots being located below the upper edge of said shingle a distance corresponding to the depth of said brick colored area plus the width of the desired mortar line between contiguous courses of shingles, and pairs of nail positioning indicia on the upper edge of said shingle, each of said pairs being associated with one of said tabs disposed intermediate the ends thereof.

6. A flexible shingle of general rectangular form shingles in contiguous courses bounded by upper and lower edges and transverse edges, said shingle being provided with a row of brick simulating tabs separated by relatively narrow slots along its lower edge, the remainder of said shingle body being of mortar-simulating appearance, said shingle being provided with a pair of aligned nail-receiving slots leading into its transverseedges, the outer ends of said slots be-l ing ared, said slots being located below the upper the depth of said brick colored areas plus the width of the desired mortar line between courses of bricks and a plurality of pairs of nail positioning notches extending into the upper edge of said shingle.

7.' A method of laying shingles having nail receiving slots, of a width to receive freely the shank portions of nails, extending inwardly from the shingle side edges andnailing indicia located above the slots, which comprises partially driving home two nails at spaced points indicated by the nailing indicia of a previously laid course of shingles, positioning the shingle with the slots receiving the shanks of the partially driven home nails to support the shingle with its lower edge located a predetermined distance above the lower edge of the previously laid course and then nailing the shingle in position.

8. A method of laying shingles provided with slots, of a width to receive freely the shank portions of partially driven home nails, extending inwardly from the side edges of the shingles and nailing indicia located above the nail receiving slots and spaced apart a .distance somewhat greater than the distance between the inner ends of the. slots and somewhat less than the distance between the side edges of the shingles, comprising partially driving home nails at spaced points indicated by the indicia of a previously laid course of shingles, flexing the shingle and inserting the ends thereof beneath the heads of the partially driven home nails with the nail receiving slots receiving the shanks of the nails to position the shingle with its lower edge located a predetermined distance above the lower edge oi the pre ceding course, adjusting the shingle in a direction parallel to the preceding course to place it in abutment with an adjacent shingle of the same course and then nailing the shingle in position. MARSTON IOVEIL HAMLIN. 

